Democrats on a key Senate committee delayed Kash Patel‘s nomination to be FBI director for one week on Thursday, moving to “hold over” the nomination, though he is still on track to be confirmed by the full Senate.
Democrats continue to voice serious concerns about Patel’s nomination, claiming that the Trump ally frequently peddles conspiracy theories and misinformation, has close associations with notable racists, and has vowed to weaponize the justice system to investigate the president’s political enemies.
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on whether to approve Patel and Democrats moved to “hold over” the nomination, which means the committee’s vote will be delayed for one week—with the committee’s ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., arguing Patel “does not have the temperament for the job.”
Ranking Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and all the Democrats on the panel urged Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to delay Patel’s confirmation vote until the nominee agreed to testify for a second time under oath about the recent removals and reassignments of FBI civil servants, among other things.
Grassley declined to grant a second confirmation hearing and described the effort as a “delay tactic” designed to stall Patel from taking the reigns of the law enforcemernt agency.
Patel’s confirmation hearing went more smoothly than hearings for some of Trump’s other Cabinet nominees. During his hearing, Patel sought to assuage worries about his loyalty to Trump and brash rhetoric. He declared that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and said he disagreed with the president’s pardons of violent Jan. 6 defendants. He vowed that if confirmed, he would only open investigations when there was a “constitutional factual basis” to do so amid concerns he would target political adversaries.
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Patel’s nomination heads to a full Senate vote. The Republican Party has a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, which means any of Trump’s Cabinet nominees can only afford to lose three Republicans’ support and still get confirmed. There are still several Republican senators to watch during the floor vote, including Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and John Curtis (R-UT), who have not indicated how they will vote.
Sen. Grassley announced he intends to hold a vote on Patel’s nomination in the committee next Thursday on Feb. 13.
